command line

command line

A shell, a command line interface; usually used with the definite article.

I'm so used to the command line that I don't even know how to find things in the GUI.

The command line offers a lot of helpful features, such as tab completion and wildcard expansion.

(computing) The textprompt presented to the user in a command line interface.

Type the following at the command line: du -s -h.

A line of text that is entered at such a prompt.

Use the following command line to compile a file without linking: gcc -c main.c -o main.o

command line - Computer Definition

Also known as the command prompt or the DOS prompt (for
Microsoft Windows–based systems) or the shell
(for UNIX or Linux based systems). A fundamental
user interface (distinct from the graphical user interface) designed to be used
by advanced users and system administrators and employed by hackers and
crackers to complete exploits.

Software that provides a blank line and cursor on screen, allowing the user to type in instructions for immediate execution. All major operating systems (Windows, Mac, Unix, Linux, etc.) support command lines that programmers and power users can employ to perform file management operations directly and often more efficiently than by using a graphical user interface (GUI). After typing a command, it is executed by pressing the Enter key.
Windows Examples
There are numerous Windows commands in this encyclopedia, and two examples follow. To do these operations in Windows Explorer or a Windows-based Pkzip utility would take numerous mouse clicks. See Windows commands.
Command Operation Performedcopy *.html d:\abc Copy HTML files to
ABC folder in D drive
pkzip xyz *.jpg Compress all JPEG
files into the Zip
archive XYZ.ZIP.
Interactive or Sequential
Commands can be executed one at a time by typing the command and pressing Enter. They can also be executed as a group, in which case the commands are typed into a "batch" or "script" file. The file name is typed on the command line, and pressing Enter causes each command to be executed in order. See batch file abc's, cmd abc's, command processor and PowerShell.

Windows Command Line

After the command prompt was launched, the command cd /stage switches focus to the STAGE folder. The dir *.cmd lists all the Windows batch files, and prepnew executes the commands in the prepNEW.cmd file.

Mac/Unix/Linux Command Line

This example from Mac OS X, which is a Unix-based operating system, shows two commands issued after the command line ("terminal window") was launched. The cd desktop switches focus to the desktop, and ls X* lists all files that begin with upper case "X."